


original bsg finale coda

by snottygrrl



Category: Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-08-16
Updated: 2002-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 21:51:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/373717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snottygrrl/pseuds/snottygrrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>this takes place right after the last show ended</p>
            </blockquote>





	original bsg finale coda

**Author's Note:**

> this is an old writing I found in my notes – thought I’d put it up for fun. I must have written this when I was in college, senior year probably. I’ve edited it a wee bit, but most just grammar issues. let's just say my writing has improved by leaps and bounds since then.
> 
> oh yeah, and the usual disclaimers – I have no rights to these characters, I was [and am] just playin’ with them, etc.

Apollo followed Starbuck down the ladder and through the noisy machinery. “Come on,” Starbuck urged, “they are holdin’ up the party for us.” When they reached the rising star the party was in full swing, the crowd was laughing and dancing, eating and drinking.

“Holdin’ up the party, huh?” Apollo grinned at Starbuck.

“I guess they got tired of waiting,” came his buddy’s quick reply.

Adama spotted the two young warriors across the room and hurried toward them. “So you finally found him,” Adama said to Starbuck as he gave his son a reproachful look. “Come on over to the stage, we want to begin the ceremony.”

The two young men trailed after their commander over to the stage and climbed onto it following his lead. “He’ll never get them to pay attention to us,” Apollo whispered to Starbuck. Indeed the crowd was quite noisy and seemed intent on what they were doing; they appeared oblivious to the trio on the stage. But no sooner had Apollo finished the sentence when silence fell over the room in response to Adama’s raised hand. Every set of eyes in the room was glued to them. Starbuck shifted uncomfortably; he always liked attention, but this sort of concentrated awe was not something he often dealt with, nor did he care to.

Apollo looked over the crowd. He saw many friends there, Boomer, Jolly, Green Bean, Bojay and other pilots he had often flown with, some he trained, others he’d gone to school with. He smiled at his companions and they smiled back. He spotted his sister Athena at another table and she winked at him. She was sitting with his son Boxey who grinned and waved. It was then he noticed one pilot he’d often flown with sitting at a table with a beautiful blonde woman.

This table also drew Starbuck’s attention, for the blonde was Cassiopeia. She was dressed in a seductively low cut dress that perfectly accented every curve of her body. Apollo heard Starbucks sharp intake of breath as he spotted her. Cassiopeia smiled and squeezed her companion’s hand. Apollo, however, hardly noticed Cassiopeia’s beauty, for his attention was drawn to her companion. It was Sheba, the pretty daughter of Commander Cain. Apollo had seen her in something other than her uniform before, but never in a dress like this one. Sheba’s dress, like Cassiopeia’s was low cut, its velvet brown fabric perfectly accented her hair, which hung softly about her shoulders and framed her face.

Apollo took all this in in an instant, for then their eyes met and he quickly looked away. He didn’t know what else to do. He and Sheba had fought like cats and dogs when they had first met, mostly because of the conflict between their fathers. However, they had continued to disagree as time went on over trivial and unimportant things. Recently, Starbuck had asked Apollo why they fought so much and Apollo had not had an answer. This had disturbed him and he had decided their quarrels should come to an end. In the last months he had made an effort to be at first cordial, and then friendly with Sheba, and she had responded in kind. They had soon found how much they had in common and together with Starbuck and Cassiopeia they had spent quite a bit of time together in the last few weeks.

But Apollo had been hurt one too many times with the death of Boxey’s mother; he had put up walls and guards, especially around his heart. When Sheba got too close he would snap at her just like he used to when they had first met. He had been more and more confused in the past few weeks, drawn to Sheba and yet pushing her away, afraid of her nearness. Then came the final blow. Right before he and Starbuck had left for this mission, the riskiest yet, she had come to him and confronted him with the whole situation. She said that she too had been hurt, but she could no longer deny it, she admitted that she loved Apollo and asked him to think about his own feelings. Then she had kissed him, gently, lingeringly and she had disappeared, crying and left him sitting there, wondering what to do. His heart beat faster as he remembered the touch of her lips on his. He tried to shake the feeling, but realized that he couldn’t and beyond that, he didn’t really want to.

Starbuck sensed his buddy’s mental absence and inconspicuously brought him back to the present with a quiet jab. Apollo gave a look of thanks and Starbuck winked back. Starbuck was the one person who really knew Apollo and knew his way around all Apollo’s defenses. He had sensed his partner’s confusion as of late, but he didn’t know how to help. Besides he had his own confusion to deal with, Cassiopeia. Starbuck had always been a bit of a playboy, and so the feelings he had for Cassiopeia were totally foreign to him. He was beginning to think of marriage and it didn’t sound so bad, this threw the usually steady Starbuck, he wondered if he was getting a little space happy.

This time it was Apollo that nudged Starbuck back to the present. Adama was carrying on about the two men’s bravery and accomplishments. The crowd was clapping and cheering at the appropriate moments. Finally he presented the young warriors with their medals and an enthusiastic roar arose from the crowd. Apollo and Starbuck smiled at the happy faces as Adama raised a toast to them. Adama ended the ceremony, and Apollo and Starbuck gratefully left the stage. The music started up again and soon the crowd was engrossed in celebrating again.

Starbuck started to head for the table where Cassiopeia and Sheba were sitting; all he wanted to do was get his arms around that beautiful little waist.

Apollo faltered, “I’m not sure…I…I…I’m feeling a bit tired…” his voice trailed off.

Starbuck looked back at him and frowned. He hated giving advice, it wasn’t his style, but…”I don’t know what happened between you two, but you can’t avoid her for long, you have got to face the situation some time. Besides,” he quipped, “I think you love her as much as I love Cassi.” The two men laughed, but Starbuck was deadly serious and Apollo knew it.

He shrugged, “Yeah, I guess you’re right” and turned towards the table.

“Would you two lovely ladies care to join us for a stroll?” Starbuck asked. Sheba looked up at Apollo, her eyes full of questions.

Apollo looked as awkward as a high school teen on his first date. He licked his lips and tried to sound casual, “It’s a once in a life time offer, I mean we’ve just been decorated.”

Cassiopeia took the initiative, “What are we waiting for?”

“Great,” said Starbuck and Apollo smiled tentatively at Sheba.

The just decorated young warriors helped their dates up and the foursome walked out of the noise. They took a shuttle over to the agro ship and strolled through the trees and under the stars.

After a while Starbuck sighed in exasperation, “You two are acting like you’ve never met. I haven’t felt this uncomfortable on a date since… Well, never mind, I’m taking Cassi back to her quarters where we are going to entertain a bottle of ambrosia.”

Cassiopeia looked at Sheba’s glum expression and started to protest, but Starbuck stopped her “They can take care of themselves, besides, I have a present for you,” he smiled teasingly at her, put his arm around her waist and started to lead her towards the shuttle. Cassiopeia glanced back at Sheba and gave her a reassuring smile.

The silence after Starbuck and Cassiopeia left was almost deafening. Apollo cleared his throat and started to speak, “Maybe we should head back too, I mean it is late and….um…..” he broke off, there were tears in Sheba’s eyes, and they were flashing with anger.

“Why don’t you say something?!? Say you hate me, say we can only be friends, say whatever, but don’t stand there pretending it never happened!” her anger ended as quickly as it had started and she turned away sobbing.

Apollo walked over to her and put his arms around her, it felt so right he wondered why he had waited so long. Here with Sheba in his arms, he knew that he couldn’t deny the feelings any longer, scared as he was, he still loved her. He put his hand under her chin and tipped her face up so he could look into her eyes. He gently brushed away her tears and then leaned forward and kissed her, shy and tentatively at first, but it wasn’t long before the passion was building rapidly. They pulled away from each other, both shaken by the strength of the emotion.

“Sheba, I love you and…”

Sheba cut Apollo off with a gentle kiss, “I think it _is_ time to head back to the Galactica,” she said with a sultry smile, “I believe I have a lonely bottle of ambrosia in my quarters.”

Apollo laughed and took Sheba’s hand. “We can’t have that,” he said in mock seriousness. “Let’s go entertain it.”


End file.
